A mystery love story has had a happy ending after 60 years thanks to a present being smashed in a Cornish kitchen and friends turning detective on social media.

A touching love letter and a marriage certificate lost by a couple for decades have been returned to them after being found after a sealed pot from a charity shop was accidentally shattered and a hunt via Facebook began.

Cathy Davies, of Roche near St Austell, bought a 1940s china sugar shaker from a charity shop five years ago and gave it to her friend Lizzy Dixon as a present.

The only problem was the lid of the antique object was jammed on so tight it couldn’t be opened, but it looked nice on a shelf.

Last week butterfingers Lizzy dropped it on the floor and smashed the pot. To her surprise, inside was a beautiful love letter and a marriage certificate dated 1958. The friends were delighted with the find and were determined to reunite the items with their owners … if they were still alive.

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Cathy took to the Let’s Flog It Cornwall page on Facebook in what she thought would be a vain attempt to find the mysterious Derek, who was the recipient of the lovely letter from his “future loving wife” Louie, who said she couldn’t meet up with him as she had to work but added “sorry darling but don’t forget me will you”.

There were more clues thanks to the discovery of the wedding certificate for Derek Edyvean and Louie Blight at Roche Parish Church on January 8, 1958.

Posting pictures of the found items on the page, Cathy said: “We would truly love if we could reunite the love letter and certificate with the owners or family members connected with this. Please share this and help us end the story with a beautiful ending.”

Hundreds of people commented with people suggesting Cathy and Lizzy contacted people with the name Edyvean all over Cornwall. In the end, relatives of the couple got in contact. Not only were Derek and Louie alive, they were still in Roche and had celebrated their diamond wedding in January.

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Artist and former air stewardess Cathy told Cornwall Live: “I was so scared when I knocked on the door, but they were lovely and so delighted to have the certificate and letter back … I couldn’t stop crying. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle being completed.”

Derek and Louie on their wedding day 60 years ago

The couple’s daughter-in-law Michelle Edyvean added: “They never thought they’d find the wedding certificate again. Louie had a copy made in 1961 when she realised she’d misplaced it.

"She didn’t remember putting it in the sugar shaker at all. She thinks she must have given it to a charity shop when they moved house a few years ago."

The personal items were stored in a sugar shaker like this for 60 years

She said: “They were just amazed, especially with the reaction from people showing them all the lovely comments on Facebook. Some people even knocked on their door saying ‘this is you’. They were overwhelmed that everyone was trying to locate them.”